Stephanie Keys managed to survive a bit of food poisoning recently. But the Vallejo musician knows it’s really nothing. Not when plenty of her friends are scrambling to find lodging after the wildfires scorched the North Bay.

That’s why Keys and her band are performing in a concert at the Empress Theatre on Wednesday, Nov. 15 with part of the proceeds helping the cause.

As a former Petaluman, “I’m pretty connected to the Sonoma County area and I’m looking at what I’m doing to get some people things they’re needing,” Keys said by phone Friday. “We’re going to do what we can to generate some money.”

The Empress Theatre has already committed to contributing 10 percent of its proceeds for November to wildfire victims.

Though most of the impacted people Keys knows “have turned out OK, there are several who have lost everything.”

Keys has plenty of memories, leaving Petaluma only three years ago, recalling the time she “used to sell Christmas trees up there.”

“Another lifetime ago,” said Keys, who now, some 25 years later, has some fascinating credits.

Not only did she tour for five years with Big Brother and the Holding Company — doing Janis Joplin songs that the late Joplin did during her tenure with the band — but went clean and sober 16 years ago, headlining the first Clean and Sober Music Festival at the Mendocino Fairgrounds last month.

It’s been a new world, Keys said.

“Let’s celebrate 16 (years),” she said, adding that being clean and sober improved her music “immensely,” though it took time.

“Really. Nine months or something to write a song,” Keys said. “This whole new world of being sober. How was I ever going to do anything without my ‘medicine’?” It takes time to feel settled in my own skin.”

At the time she got clean, Keys figured she was emotionally frozen at 12, maybe 13 years old.

“Now that I’m 16 (years sober), my friend said, ‘Now you can start dating’ just when I gave it up,” Keys said laughing.

Because she got clean, “so many opportunities have presented themselves,” Keys said. “I’m able to show up for opportunities in a way I never was able to.”

Keys auditioned for Big Brother and the Holding Company 20 years ago and didn’t make the cut.

“When the opportunity presented itself again, it was amazing to have that come twice in a lifetime,” she said. “It was an honor to do Janis songs with her original band and be on the side of alcoholism where I’m not actively drinking.”

Keys said she’s “vicariously doing something” Joplin was unable to do after overdosing in 1970 at age 27.

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“She was so wise, so connected to the importance of living life to the fullest, I could totally relate to that,” Keys said. “But I don’t think that she wanted to go (die) that early.”

Because Joplin set the bar so high, Keys put pressure on herself when doing the Joplin tunes.

“It was a bit of a hard gig at first,” she said.

After 16 years of sobriety, Keys said she’s “taking care of my own well-being” while delivering a personal message in her music “and a global message as well.”

“I do think that people do get a feeling of being inspired when they experience a performance from me,” Keys said.

And now she feels safe putting her own country rock out there — even with the anxiety of taking it on stage for the first time.

“It’s ... vulnerable ... raw .. and sometimes awkward,” she laughed. “But really empowering. The first feeling is, ‘Oh my God, is this going to be OK?’ There is something magical about it. The generosity of the people in the audience is always surprising to me. Same thing for the bandmates. The guys are there for the support and it’s cool to have that feeling.”

Then again, if a song falls flat ... “You really know instantly,” Keys said. “This is not going well.”

No matter. Life — a sober one, at that — goes on.

“You ride it out,” she said.

Stephanie Keys and her band plays the Empress Theatre on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 8 p.m., in a fundraiser for the fire victims. Admission $15 online, $20 box office/phone/day of event. For more, visit empresstheater.org. To donate to the wildfire victims, visit http://empress.gives.